Aircraft with U.S. personnel lands in Ugandan road

Jul. 21, 2014 - 07:55AM
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KAMPALA, UGANDA — A small aircraft carrying U.S. military personnel made an emergency landing in the middle of a highway after running out of fuel, Ugandan police said Friday.

Phillip Mukasa, a spokesman for Ugandan police, said the Piper aircraft with eight people on board — including two crew members — was returning to Uganda's Entebbe International Airport when it had to make an emergency landing in Mityana town, some 67 kilometers (about 41 miles) from the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

No one was hurt and the aircraft wasn't damaged, he said, although motor traffic flow was seriously disrupted.

"The pilot made an emergency landing and it was in the middle of the road," he said. "They are all safe and no one is injured."

He said the aircraft had been headed to South Sudan but it couldn't land there and had to return to Uganda.

It was not immediately clear why the pilot could not land in South Sudan.